MELOCK SOUGHT LIE-DETECTOR TEST, JURY TOLD

Robert "Bobby" Melock apparently was so convinced that a lie detector test would clear him of the slaying of his grandmother that it was he, police said, who requested the test.

So Melock was driven from Waukegan to Chicago four years ago for the test. And when it was over, Melock was placed in handcuffs and returned to Waukegan and charged with first-degree murder.

Last week, for the second time, a jury began considering whether the 26-year-old man raped, strangled and stabbed Augustine Melock, 72, in her Waukegan home Jan. 14, 1989.

The trial continues this week before Lake County Judge Raymond McKoski.

The results of lie detector tests are not admissible in most court proceedings in Illinois. Nonetheless, they are often used as an investigative tool by police to try to find the guilty and to vindicate the innocent.

Detective Sgt. Lou Tessmann of the Waukegan police said that it was Melock's idea to take such a test on Jan. 19, 1989. Tessmann, in testimony last week at Melock's jury trial, said the request came because of inconsistencies in statements Melock made about the knife that may have been used to kill his grandmother.

"He stated that he could not explain the inconsistencies at which time he asked if he could take a lie detector test," Tessmann said.

At that point, he continued, Melock was placed in an unmarked white police car and driven to Chicago to see Michael Masokas, a polygraph examiner with John Reid Associates.

"We informed Mr. Masokas that Mr. Melock was the one who requested the polygraph, mainly about the knife," Tessmann said.

"After the test, he (Masokas) came out and said that Robert Melock admitted he killed his grandmother and wanted to speak to me."

The results of the lie test, however, were not disclosed to the jurors.

Melock's previous conviction and death sentence in late 1989 for his grandmother's murder were overturned last summer by the Illinois Supreme Court. The high court ruled that jurors at Melock's first trial should have been allowed to learn how he allegedly was tricked into confessing the crime.

Tessmann's testimony was an effort by the prosecution to dispute such a contention by Melock's attorneys, and also to introduce the confession into evidence.

He said that Melock appeared "very upset" after he took the lie detector test.

"He looked up at me and shook his head, and I could see that he was crying," Tessmann told the jurors. "At that time I read him his rights, and he acknowledged all his rights.

"He started talking to me about the incident. As he would give me a sentence I would take it down and then repeat it back to him."

According to the confession, which was read to the jurors, Melock went to his grandmother's house in Waukegan after a long evening of drinking beer, smoking marijuana and using cocaine. He said he went there about 1:30 a.m., took his shoes off so as not to leave any footprints in the snow, and that the grandmother he knew as "Gustie" came to the door.

"My grandmother told me to get out of here you little (expletive)," Melock said in his statement. "Get out of here! Get out of here.!"

Melock said he broke through the door and entered the house and got into a shouting match with "Gustie."

"She started calling me names so I said `(expletive) you!' "

Barbara Kahn, an assistant public defender who represents Melock, contends that he is innocent of the crime. She told jurors in her opening statement that a stranger killed Melock's grandmother, and that blood and hair samples of an unknown person were found at the murder scene.

If Melock is convicted, prosecutors Matthew Chancey and Steve McCollum will ask the new jurors to recommend the death penalty for Melock for the second time.